Reference Publications

Nutter butter - Letters

Washington Monthly, Dec, 2001 by Jeff Beliveau

What I find most interesting [about "The Wisdom of Ann Coulter," October 2001] is the range of outlets providing your quotes and the time span they cover. If the purpose of the article was to say, "Hey! She's a Nutter!," then why did all of these paragons of journalistic integrity choose to use her again and again and again? Could it be because they didn't give a damn about what she was saying as long as it was controversial? Could it be, as she is quoted as saying that her looks do indeed have something to do with it?

This is particularly disturbing coming from an organization that touts: "Ever since editor-in-chief Charlie Peters founded the magazine in 1969, the Monthly has dissected the Beltway establishment to identify what's wrong with Washington and how we can fix it." Just talking about what she said is not dissecting, it is not fixing the problem. You are focusing on her, the symptom, rather than the disease that is slowly destroying the credibility of news organizations. If these organizations want to entertain us, fine; just stop pretending it's news or newsworthy, or even commentary.